Essaouira (الصويرة‎; in Portuguese: Mogador) is a historical city on Morocco’s Atlantic coast. We spent a couple of days in Essaouira after our trip to the desert. It was nice to see some water after days of sand and rocks.

The medina of Essaouira, formerly named Mogador (name originating from the Phoenician word Migdol meaning a « small fortress »), is an example of a fortified town of the mid-eighteenth century, built by the Moroccan King – Mohammed III. In the Berber language, which is spoken by a sizeable proportion of the city’s inhabitants, it is called “Taṣṣort”.

Bab al Mersa built in 1770.

Essaouira’s medina is protected by 18th-century seafront ramparts – the Skala de la Kasbah. Old brass cannons line the walls. The tower Borj El Barmil overlooks the entrance to the city.

The port of Essaouira was known as the “Port of Timbuktu” because most African products for export to Europe ended up here, including slaves.

Have you heard the seminal 1994 collaboration of Ry Cooder and Ali Farka Toure – Talking Timbuktu ? My all-time favorites are “Ai Du” (track 9) and “Diaraby” (track 10).

spotify:album:2MSgPFGGgIn5EqLezjLpt9

The importance of Essaouira faded due to the rise of Casablanca in the North and Agadir in the South. The Western bastion of the rampart is seen the photo below.

Essaouira is inscribed by UNESCO on the World Heritage list in 2001. Nowadays, the port of Essaouira is non-commercial except for fishing and ship maintenance. The waters are not deep enough for bigger ships.

There were really only two kinds of boats – a large motorized trawler that tows a small blue boat.  The small boats were moored to a set of floating piers in neat rows.

Most of the boats, large and small, were wooden, painted blue and carrying bundles of orange buoys.

I saw fish being scooped from the floor of a small boat into a basket which was thrown up to the pier. There was a boat-load (literally) of fish.

Some people were standing around waiting to buy some fish right there and then. Freewheeling trade all over the place.

This group of men were waiting for some kind of auction of the buckets of sardines. I won’t be surprise there was an arbitrage on the dockside.

Although a fish market is located next to the fishing port, makeshift stalls were set up alongside the port’s access road.

Local residents and restaurant owners came to make their selection for the day.

Cats were quite visible around town and in the port. We saw relatively fewer dogs.

This cat was walking on the edge because its paws could fall into the holes of the metallic walkway of the floating pier.  The cats are very well-behaving here as we never once saw a cat eating a fish or any food out in the open.

Just outside the port is an open area where tourists can enjoy fishes and shellfishes at one of the numbered stalls which will cook/grill it to order. I did not think the lobster was caught locally as none were seen inside the port.

Part 2 is about actions around the port. Don’t miss it.